Various apparatuses that enable an occupant of a vehicle to perform an input operation with respect to a vehicle-mounted device have been proposed.
Since touch panel displays that are currently popular as input apparatuses are mainly arranged on a center console between a driver's seat and a passenger's seat, performing an operation requires moving a hand over a considerable distance. In other words, there is plenty of room for improvement with respect to a workload placed on a driver when performing an input operation.
Examples of apparatuses which enable a driver to perform an input operation with a smaller workload includes an apparatus described in Patent Literature 1. The apparatus described in Patent Literature 1 has a touch pad built into a spoke portion of a steering wheel, and by performing an operation on the touch pad, a driver can perform an input with respect to a vehicle-mounted apparatus.
However, even when using this apparatus, a driver must move a hand in order to operate the touch pad. In addition, there is a problem that a position or an orientation of the touch pad changes depending on a rotational state of the steering wheel and, as a result, operability declines.
In consideration of such problems, a proposal for building a sensor into a grip portion of a steering wheel itself has been made. An input apparatus described in Patent Literature 2 has a touch sensor built into an entire circumference of a steering wheel, and by performing an operation involving moving a hand on the steering wheel, a driver can perform an input with respect to a vehicle-mounted device. The input device has a switch for determining whether or not an input operation is being performed and only accepts an input operation when the switch is activated.